Monday, August 17, 2015

Subway Complaints

Madrid Subway Complaints is a map visualizing the number and categories of complaints made about each subway station on the Madrid Metro network. The complaints made by passengers at each Madrid Metro station range from the slowness of the trains to the price of the journeys.

The map uses scaled, colored and nested circular markers to show the number of each different type of complaint made at a station. The nested circular markers create a very striking 'Pop Art' type of visual design.

I do think that the markers contribute to a beautiful looking map. The disadvantage is that it can be a little difficult to select individual colored circles on the map. If you mouse-over a colored circle you can view the number of complaints made in that category at that station. However if there are a number of nested markers at a station then it can be a little difficult to select an individual color on the map.

This selection problem could be alleviated a little by making the circles a little larger on the map. Another problem with visualizing the number of complaints by station is that it is hard to get a sense of the total number of each type of complaint across the whole Madrid Metro. It looks to me that complaints about access at stations is the largest type of complaint made across the while subway network in Madrid.

It would be nice if the map included a table of the numbers of each type of complaints across the whole network. Perhaps these total numbers could be added to the map legend.